Early-spring garden views
Bottle tree at sunrise
Garden bloggers are always looking at their gardens in close-up, filling posts with macro photos of plants and flowers. I tend to do this more than some. So today I thought I’d compensate by including several long-shot photos. It’s easier to see how much is in bloom from this perspective—or how little, depending on how misled you’ve been by my many close-up flower pics lately.
From the rear of the east-facing back garden looking toward the house. The ever-blooming bottle tree stands in a bed of irises (no flowers yet), zexmenia (still dormant), a couple of grasses, and a potted prickly pear. Closer to the house, the Mexican plum is in full bloom. To the left you see the back of the new trellis-screen. I may spray-paint the T-posts brown, to match the cedar. Then again, I may be lazy and just let it turn rusty brown over time.
Back detail of the trellis-screen. Not as pretty as the front, which has the cedar posts, but hey, this is the kids’ space. Do they give a hoot? Actually, they do. My son was very concerned that the T-posts were going to uglify his view of the garden from the trampoline. Wow, I didn’t know he cared about the view! However, when the screen was finished, he gave it his stamp of approval.
Viewing the yard from the opposite end of the diagonal, you look across the patio toward the greenhouse/shed and the bottle tree. Under the leafing cedar elm, to the right, evergreen Texas betony foliage is plumping up, though it’s still too early for flowers.
This is the view as you enter the back yard from the driveway. It’s mostly just green right now, with Southern wax myrtles screening the privacy fence on the right (they lost a few branches during the ice storm). Under the myrtles are clumps of daylilies, spiderwort (just starting to bloom), and heartleaf skullcap. On the left, under the Mexican plum, the ‘Marie Pavie’ rose is filling out with new foliage.
I can’t resist a close-up of the Carolina jessamine in full flower on the fence, to the right of the wax myrtles.
The sunny, west-facing front garden. Again, it’s mostly just green right now, as the perennials refresh their foliage following a recent hard pruning. The pot in the center of the courtyard contains a Texas nolina, a relative of the yucca. A low, clumping evergreen, nolina can take sun or shade and survives on very little water. I don’t know why it isn’t more commonly used in Austin to fill in difficult, dry areas, like under shade trees.
OK, that’s it for the long shots. Sorry—small garden. You’ve seen it now.
‘Belinda’s Dream’ is revving up with new, scarlet foliage.
The pretty little buttercups of hymenoxys always cheer me up. It blooms pretty much year-round.
An early purple coneflower
The first flowers are beginning to open on the Texas mountain laurel, a gorgeous, evergreen, native understory tree with fragrant purple flowers in the spring. Sorry for the blurriness—I had to stand on tiptoe to reach this cluster.
Texas mountain laurel has odd-looking—dare I say ugly?—clusters of gray seedpods, though I find them easy to overlook. If you crack one open, you unlock a couple of brilliant red seeds.
Lovely but extremely toxic seeds. On the bright side, as Wasowski’s Native Texas Plants says, “the seed coat is so hard that it is difficult to release the poison.” Just teach those kiddos not to pop things from the garden into their mouths.
Flowering in the shade in the back garden is agarita (Berberis trifoliata or Mahonia trifoliata ). These dainty, yellow flowers are clustered along the length of the branches.
Agarita is a Texas native with gray-green, holly-like leaves. The foliage is quite pretty, if spiky, and I intend to try one under the cedar elm as the tree shades out the Lindheimer muhly grasses.
I hope you enjoyed the tour. It’s pleasant to be out in the garden at this time of year. I should be working on a few maintenance chores, like painting the fence and dividing a large, bicolor iris, but I find myself just wandering around, looking at flowers, and watching the antics of birds. It’s hard to feel as industrious as I should when the weather is so lovely.
Love the blue bottles. See mine here: http://www.remarc.com/craig/?p=52
The lower ones are buried in snow now. And it’s -4 F right now — one degree off the record low for this date. Brrrr.
I was once in a hotel bar in Scranton, Pa., that had behind the bar two Skyy vodka bottles that must have held 5 gallons each. Couldn’t figure out any way to sneak them out. If they were full, I think it would have been grand larceny, anyway.
Thanks for the hopeful pictures to help get through this cold night.
Ah, a fellow bottle-tree aficionado. I knew there was something special about Ellis Hollow.
Man, -4 degrees is really cold. I bet the bottle tree looks pretty in the snow, though. Maybe you’ll post a photo? —Pam
Your garden is lovely! Thanks so much for the tour!
I live in Toronto, Canada and we are no where near spring yet.
It’s such a pleasure to see spring early by way of your blog.
You’re welcome, April. Thank you for stopping by. —Pam
I’ve stopped by to see your lovely pictures and to remind myself that in a month or so, spring will also come to Indiana. Thanks for the glimpses of your garden and spring!
Thanks for visiting, Carol! —Pam
Great pictures! I love your plants. It makes me happy that you’ve included so many Texas natives in your garden. It looks like Texas has a particularly appealing mahonia. And that Agarita looks interesting too. I’m eager to see them go through the seasons.
You don’t regret taking out that redbud, huh? When you said you did that, I was like “Whaa..?!”
Thanks, Chuck. When I started this garden, I was all about Texas natives. Lady Bird Johnson had sold me on her philosophy of let your region look like your region, and not like everybody else’s. While I still have many natives, I’ve also introduced a number of adapted and traditional Southern staples into the garden, which I’ve enjoyed. It’s led to some unusual combinations, like the antique rose/prickly pear combo that startled a few people when I guested over at Garden Rant.
FYI, agarita is the common name for the local mahonia I mentioned. And which redbud did I say I removed? I don’t remember that conversation. —Pam
Oh, it wasn’t you..? I’m mixing up my bloggers! Yikes! Who removed the Texas redbud from the bed in front of her window? I don’t think it was Annie…
An easy mistake, as there are so many of us blogging in Austin. Actually, Chuck, in this case, the mistake is mine. You’re right, I did remove a little redbud sapling in the front garden to put in a pomegranate. Obviously I have no regrets, since I’d already forgotten that I’d done it. Good grief, my memory! —Pam
Thanks for the garden tour Pam. Now I have a much better idea of the lay out of your garden. Love that bottle tree. Is it just a fun thing or is there more to it? Perhaps I’ll have one too. I love glass and I think it would be something nice to look at all year round. Have to check out Ellis Hollow’s bottle tree too.
It’s nice to see that both yours and my garden are wearing their Spring frocks.
Bottle trees are a yard-art tradition from the rural South (U.S.), particularly the African-American community. But obviously their appeal crosses cultural and geographical lines. See my first post on my bottle tree for more info, and I look forward to seeing one in your garden someday. —Pam
Oh, Pam – you do have a head full of chlorophyll if you forgot the redbud removal!
There’s just so much to see & do in your garden – it’s not a yard, it’s a total horticultural world.
I love the bottle tree, too.
The agarita flowers are pretty – we had agarita at the other house, but the deer ate the buds before the flowers opened. We had a different Mahonia there, too – bealii probably – nice flowers and blue berries. It was great in shade but might be from Asia.
Maybe the back side of the fence posts need some ropey vine sections applied to give a Tarzan look to your young man’s side? How could he not notice after growing up in such an environment!
Annie
That’s funny. I’d actually thought of wrapping grapevines around the post too. —Pam
I did enjoy the tour Pam, very much…thank you! It’s interesting to see what you grow down there in Austin. Some of the plants are new to me and it’s always fun to learn about new plants. I’m sighing here, looking at your bright cheerful blooms, while outside our view is still of snow, snow, and more snow! And yes, it’s snowing again this morning! Nevermind, the promise of Spring keeps us plodding along. It’ll be here eventually! I’m glad you showed us these long shots…but I love your close-ups too 🙂
Thanks, Kerri. —Pam
Daylilies?? That caught my attention! When will your daylily season begin? Loved the tour! What a back porch! It looks like a wonderful place to enjoy your garden views from.
On average, my daylilies start blooming during the first week of May, and they’re done by mid-June. The evergreen ones perform best for me, and at this time of year they’re busy plumping up their foliage. Also, because it’s so infernally hot here, the daylilies do best with a bit of shade.
Thanks for the compliment on my back porch. I really enjoy having that shady, bug-free spot to view the garden once summer arrives. —Pam
Love the bottle tree! I’m collecting blue bottles now – I only have five of them – but soon I should have enough to erect my tree! Very fun.
Hi, Pam, thanks for visiting. Bottle trees are a fun garden accent, particularly as they can be constructed in so many different ways. MSS at Zanthan gave me her collection of blue sake bottles to get me started, and I’m adding more as I get them. —Pam